


Let It Snow

by startrekkingaroundasgard



Series: 25 days of ficmas [18]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Gen, Snow, Snowball Fights, Winter Wonderland, family holidays, festive fluff, nature spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-18
Updated: 2018-12-18
Packaged: 2019-09-21 15:42:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17046377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/startrekkingaroundasgard/pseuds/startrekkingaroundasgard
Summary: The reader is a spirit living in the forest where the Avengers come for their winter holiday. When they see the team getting upset about there being no snow, they take matters into their own hands and give them a winter wonderland.





	Let It Snow

The archer was complaining, again. It was all he ever seemed to do, when he wasn’t out in the woods shooting things. He was bored. There was no more coffee. The weird and fast ones - twins, you thought you’d heard them say - had done something annoying again. You weren’t sure how the others put up with such negativity all the time. They’d only been here a few days and you were already ready to banish him to the Nether-realms.

While you had formed quite the opinion on him, the same couldn’t be said for the widow and the scientist. They were strange. You couldn’t work out why but something didn’t sit right about either. The woman, with hair as red as the autumn leaves, was guarded beyond belief. She didn’t want to be here. She did not appreciate the beauty of the world and locked herself away from it.

The man, whose eyes flashed green like emeralds beneath the sun, wasn’t natural either. Being anywhere near the cottage when he was around was like standing on the edge of a cliff in the middle of a storm. The power behind his mild manner was incredible, threatening to burst out at any moment. And yet he was the gentlest of them all. He was the one up at the crack of dawn to feed the birds on the porch. He sat in silence and listened to their songs on the breeze while the others were content to block out the calls with meaningless chatter. Full of contradictions he was, and you didn’t like that at all.

You liked the soldiers more. There were three of them, each distinctively different but reserved in the same way. They watched the forest carefully, searching for an enemy in the woods, never quite relaxing completely. That came with the territory, you supposed. One soldier caught your attention, in particular, though. He was different and not just because of the way he looked. 

Tall, blond and handsome was in charge of collecting firewood. He never moaned, like some of the others. In fact, he seemed to take quite a lot of pleasure in the mundane task. You appreciated watching him work; he moved with a power that you had never seen in a mere man before but also, somehow, managed to maintain the grace of a deer. It was mesmerising.

What you liked most about him, though, was how carefully he chose the trees to cut. He ran his fingers over the bark of the trees, his eyebrows furrowing as if he could hear their stories. It was like he could feel their sorrow. The soldier listened to what the trees told him and - whether knowingly or not - only cut the sick or the weak. He cared for your forest and that in itself was enough to earn your respect.

The dark skinned soldiers were funny from the first moment they’d arrived. One, the friend to the birds, was always teasing the broken old man - he had to be old for there was no way one so young carried that much sadness in their eyes. More often than not it earned him a hard glare and a few giggles from those around but every now and then it brought a smile to the brunette’s face. He would shift awkwardly, cradling his metallic arm, and then try to flee, never wanting to admit that maybe he considered the birdman a friend.

But it was the other soldier, the honey bear, who you respected most. Of everyone in the cottage, and you had counted eleven so far, it was he who cared beyond reason and doubt. He was was the one who dragged the child and the shining man outside and ensured they ate. He interrupted their talk of nano technology and space travel, reminding them that this was a well earned holiday. He stole their machines and hid them away, eliminating distractions. He sat them by a fire with a blanket and a bag of marshmallows and watched until they fell asleep.

A strange bunch indeed. No matter how you tried, you couldn’t work out what had brought this unlikely group of travellers together. All you knew was that it had to have been bad. The looks in their eyes, even in that of the child’s, was recognisable from miles away. They’d all seen war. They’d faced great loss. They just wanted peace and of course that had brought them to you.

Your forest was renowned the world over for its magical properties. Protected by a law older than most modern civilisations, so difficult to find that most people believed it to be little more than a myth. Those who found your home and treated it with respect were rewarded. Any stupid enough to try and destroy it were wiped from the face of the Earth.

Thankfully for all, you had deemed these travellers, these Avengers, to be worthy of your hospitality. In truth, you found yourself enjoying their presence so you gave them warm days and nights as a reward. A forest in the height of autumn with perfect weather and as many cute and fluffy animals as they could imagine - except the archer, who seemed intent on trying to shoot them; to him, you sent wolves.

For a few days, you were all happy. They smiled more as the week passed, laughed together as the tension drained away. The forest began tuning in to their emotions, the trees and flowers blooming anew, creating life from their joy. You watched them from afar but edged ever nearer, drawn in by their happiness. It was wonderful, until one day it wasn’t.

The child’s mood was the first to fall. A single message sent him into a spiral of sadness - some kind of update from a friend in the city - and he soon brought with him the rest of the group. Having grown used to their happiness, you refused to stand by and watch them wallow away on account of something as meaningless as the weather. If they wanted snow, then that is what you would give them.

You waited until the middle of the night before calling on the magic of the land. The sky darkened as heavy clouds began to form, blanketing the light of the distant stars. The wind swirled as ice crept across the windows of the cabin. As the snow fell, heavier with every passing second, you began to take a physical form made of ice and crystal.

So focused were you on crafting the shining icicles from the branches, on protecting the animals from the biting chill of the wind, that you completely missed the sound of a door creaking open. You missed the surprised gasp of the child, his panicked scrambling inside as ran to wake his team, to drag them out into the cold and show them the unbelievable sight outside their cabin.

By the time you realised that you were being watched, your physical form had completely solidified and you were commanding the wind and snow around the clearing, swirling it and creating majestic pillars and formations which almost belonged in some kind of fairytale ice castle.

It was only a cough but it was enough to jolt you from your focus. The snow feature you’d been sculpting collapsed into nothing more than a melting pile of slush as you stretched your icy fingers into something more akin to daggers.

The team threw their hands in the air and slowly shuffled backwards towards the door, hoping to avoid being stabbed on their holiday. However, the child didn’t seem to get the message. He leapt over the banister, completely forgetting that it was covered in ice, still in his pyjamas, lost his grip and fell face first into a thick pile of snow.

You were at his side before the others could even react. All it took was a simple touch to melt the snow. Another to his chest pulled the ice from his body and heated him from the inside out. You offered him a hand which he fearlessly accepted, smiling up at you as if you were the most incredible thing that he had ever seen.

“Hi,” he grinned, nearly jumping up and down in excitement. “I’m Peter.”

You mouthed his name, unable to voice it. He squeezed your hand and dragged you over to the cabin, wildly waving his arms around and introducing everyone. They smiled with varying degrees of enthusiasm but all convinced you that they meant no harm - even Clint, the archer.

Despite the fact that it was the middle of the night, Peter somehow managed to convince the team to have a snowball fight. Perhaps convinced may not be the right word. He made the biggest snowball he could, threw it at Bucky and then moved faster than you’d ever seen a human move to jump for cover. Within seconds, complete mayhem broke out.

As the snowballs were flying, Wanda pulled you aside towards one of your beautiful sculptures. “You did this?”

You nodded. Running your crystal fingers over the smooth, icy surface, a bright white light began to shine in the heart of the sculpture. It wasn’t cold like the snow. It warm and pure, your strength and goodwill visualised. Wanda was drawn to the light like a moth to a flame and couldn’t help from touching the ice like you. All of a sudden, every statue in the clearing shone with the same light, tinged with a gentle red glow, giving away half of the team’s hiding places.

Wanda’s smile grew impossibly large. Waiting until you’d given her permission, she placed her hand above yours and the scarlet glow of her powers began to course through your body. Your thoughts and perceptions mingled with hers, each so completely different and abstract to one another than they were almost unintelligible.

However, the feelings, the emotions, resonated perfectly. Even though you were as different as life could be, you understood one another. When she pulled away, a small amount of her essence remained with you, while a slither of yours clung to her. It was almost overwhelming; for the first time in millennia, you had finally been able to connect with someone who understood what you were doing here.

“Don’t you get lonely?” she asked, catching the way you watched the team playing together. They were rolling around in the snow, building snowmen and making angels, sliding around on the ice like uncoordinated baby deer.

You pointed to the nearest tree, where a nest of birds was precariously balanced on a low hanging branch. The curious creatures, impervious to the cold thanks to your powers, peaked out from over the edge of the nest and began chirping excitedly. One small bird, barely strong enough to keep itself in flight, jumped down and landed on your shoulder, pecking excitedly at your glittering strands of hair. You reached up and carefully stroked its tiny feathers, smiling at the song it started to sing for you.

Wanda sat with you long after the others went inside, either to sleep or warm themselves by the fire. They invited you to join them but you decided to stay outside and watch the stars. It wasn’t often that you manifested into a physical form - it took a lot of power, which was often better spent protecting the forest - so you wanted to enjoy the sensations while you could.

Eventually the morning sun began to rear its head, its warmth threatening to melt everything you’d created. You held tightly onto the magic of the Earth but it fought you. After all, you were a mere spirit of the forest. A guardian, yes, but nothing more. Your power was limited and you could not sustain the winter wonderland you had created.

Resting her hand on your shoulder, Wanda said gently, “It’s okay. Thank you for this. I don’t think we will ever forget tonight. It has been amazing but you can let it go now.”

There was no obvious sign that you had released your hold on the Earth’s magic but slowly the ice around you began to melt. The snow turned to slush and was then absorbed by the forest floor, once again revealing the soft green grass below. Your crystalline form began to grow weak, until it just melted away entirely.

Concerned by your sudden disappearance, Wanda opened her mind in search for you. You felt the tingle of her powers calling to you, familiar as it reached out to the part of her inside you. A gust of wind ruffled her hair, and she smiled at the warm touch - your touch - before heading inside to get some rest.

You stayed with them for the rest of their holiday. Every day they ate outside and on the porch to be nearer to you. They left food for the animals and an empty chair for you at every meal, occasionally bringing you in on the conversation even though you couldn’t reply. Clint even stopped shooting the animals.

They returned a few years later, different than you remembered. Not all of the team were there. An air of terrible loss hung over them, one that you knew would never leave them. You understood too well. It had been a difficult few years for the Earth. All of life had suffered, even that which was protected in your forest. You had felt the loss deeply too.

But when they stepped into the cabin, they were filled with memories of kinder days. When the snow began to fall around them, they laughed and cried. For a few glorious days, you helped them to pretend that everything was as it should be. They could enjoy the festive season without feeling guilt or loss and seeing them smile was the best present you could ever hope for.


End file.
